Did you ever think you knew something about yourself, but over time, realized it wasn’t true? Or, have you ever found yourself reacting automatically to someone and then been surprised by who they are? 

 

Maybe none of us are who we really think we are. While we are all extraordinary creatures, full of emotions, thoughts, creativity, love, longing, and discomfort, sometimes we don’t realize how much we cover up what’s going on under the surface as we struggle to find our self-expression and fit in. We have been highly socialized by cultural norms and media influences, all of which led to us being exactly who we are today. We were born where we were born and we grew up how we did, in a family we did not choose, exposed to the media and a society that we had no control over.

 

Because of these influences, we all have biases about gender, race, sexuality, class, or religion, many of which are unconscious. Lots of these biases are causing pain and trouble in the world today. The human brain is influenced by these biases as it uses split second reactions to make sense of the world using only cues in appearance and behavior. We will need more than good thinking to get us out of this mess. We need to understand and re-wire our bodies’ automatic responses. From the way we hold ourselves, to how much space we take up, to how we make love and more, our body is constantly sending us messages about who and how we should be in the world. And how others should be.

 

In this workshop, we will be curious about the ways our bodies amputate our full expression because of the expectations we have internalized about how to behave. And, while all of these biases influence us, we will primarily explore gender biases because, despite the fact that we interact with gender every day, most of us haven’t received much formal education about it. Gender is all around us and we are informed and shaped by gender expectations constantly – from the way we posture, move, emote, think, relate and more.  And our thinking and posturing shapes others.

 

We are all in this together, regardless of whether you feel fixed or fluid in your gender identity. And, we will need all of us to really get at the heart of what is going on. Luckily, we can have a lot of fun while doing it! We will use the catalytic Open Floor movement practice to let dance lead us to the places our biases may be covering our true expression. We will invite you to come to the edge of your experience in your identified gender and notice how you may or may not hold back from authentic and heartfelt interactions with yourself and others. We will learn with and from each other. 

 

It is our civil right to be able to express what is happening on the inside and feel our freedom to make it visible on the outside.  If you ever wondered how you can help create change in the world, this is it.  We start with ourselves.

                                                                                                       

Faculty

Joseph Machado M.A., is an Open Floor teacher, a somatic therapist and public high school teacher in the SF Bay Area. He believes it is important to cultivate curiosity in our daily lives and understands the transformative potential of living an embodied life.

Cynthia Kennedy is a mother, a dancer, and a passionate lover of life, but she is best known as a deep and powerful teacher – of leadership, of writing, and of the Open Floor movement meditation practice. She was originally trained by Gabrielle Roth and has been teaching movement as a tool of transformation since 2007. She has been on the faculty at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington since 1998 where her main areas of focus are embodied leadership, sustainability and consciousness studies. She is a Founding Member of both the International Conscious Movement Teachers Association and Open Floor International.

Register Now!